Chapter 101: Trap (1)

[An unquantifiable singularity has occurred. The full document for ‘White Night Land’ is scheduled to be revised. Anyone currently carrying the previous rules is advised to dispose of the entire document.]

Meanwhile, Hwi-yeon and Han-su, who had entered White Night Land ahead of the others and were already exploring it, were beginning to realize in more ways than one that something had gone terribly wrong.

They had somehow managed to present their tickets to an employee, receive the proper yellow admission tickets, and enter normally.

But once they were inside, the scenery was even worse.

Trees and thick vegetation had grown throughout the amusement park, damaging the facilities, and some areas had even transformed into mountainous terrain covered in hills.

The night sky visible far overhead.

“.......”

Because sounds echoed slightly, it almost looked like a sealed ceiling that had simply been painted black.

The problem was that the sense of wrongness did not come only from the surrounding scenery.

“Ha ha. Hahaha.”

“Heeheehee.”

Employees mechanically repeating bizarre laughter wandered past them from every direction.

Grotesque monsters with two pairs of arms and legs, as though two people had been sewn together back-to-back.

They looked almost like spiders, and it was a form the two had definitely seen before.

But back then, although their appearances had been grotesque, they had at least been capable of fairly normal conversation.

They had even been reasonable enough that everyone could coordinate, deceive them just enough, and make use of them.

“This is definitely different from what I read in the rules.”

Han-su nodded at Hwi-yeon’s words as she swallowed dryly.

They definitely had not been this far gone before.

The sight of the employees wandering around for no reason, laughing mindlessly with completely vacant eyes, made it difficult even to approach them.

The way the two halves had once conversed with each other despite being joined at the back had disappeared entirely, and most of them now dragged one half around as though carrying a corpse on their back.

Some were even missing the limbs or neck of the dead half.

Apparently, only the stronger of the two had survived.

“Whine....”

Mu-yeon also sensed something ominous from the monsters roaming around them and pressed close to Han-su and Hwi-yeon.

Even aside from those creatures wandering throughout the amusement park, the place felt unbearably unnatural.

The rides were so rusted that they looked capable of giving someone tetanus from a single touch, and most did not even function.

Even the colorful lights installed everywhere were, up close, either half-dead or flickering however they pleased.

It was unmistakably the scenery of an abandoned amusement park that had not been maintained in years.

“Wow! A puppy!”

At that moment, one employee exclaimed in a completely flat voice and approached Mu-yeon.

Hwi-yeon flinched and stepped in front of him, but the employee, her hair braided into twin pigtails and wearing pink overalls, smiled broadly.

Even that expression looked painfully unnatural, as though her facial muscles had been forcibly pulled upward.

“Excuse me! Would it be okay if I said hello to the puppy?”

What was this....

The pointlessly polite employee was, just like the others, dragging around a man wearing green overalls on her back.

His body hung limply with his eyes still open, his skin discolored blue as he dangled behind her.

Even his neck had been torn apart by something and was hanging half-detached.

Hwi-yeon’s eyes accidentally met the corpse’s dead pupils for a moment, and when she lowered her head, the employee apparently took it as a nod and crouched down toward Mu-yeon.

“Wow, you’re so cute!”

The words sounded kind and gentle at first, but because her tone never changed, they sounded like text being read aloud by a machine.

While Mu-yeon rolled his three eyes around in bewilderment as the monster petted him.

Han-su quickly examined their surroundings more closely.

Fortunately, perhaps because each of them was wearing an admission ticket around their wrist, the employees recognized them perfectly as guests.

The atmosphere was undeniably strange, but the employees were not hostile.

Han-su judged that, at least like this, they should be able to look around.

As long as they did not stay too long.

As long as they themselves did not become entranced by the faint flute music spreading through the area.

“Let’s just take a quick look around and head back.”

At Han-su’s words, the employee also released Mu-yeon and stood back up.

“Yes! Then please enjoy your time at White Ni, Ni, Night La, Land, where the lights never go, go, go out!”

The employee’s voice continued as she laboriously stood and once again dragged away the man strapped to her back.

It was completely different from ordinary stuttering.

Like a damaged tape.

As though she were desperately trying to force tangled words out despite no longer being able to speak smoothly.

There was already more than enough to make them uneasy, but had there ever been a peaceful moment inside a ghost story?

Han-su and Hwi-yeon forced themselves to ignore the chill crawling down the backs of their necks and continued deeper inside.

Peeeeee―

The sound of the flute grew slightly stronger.

So did the urge to rip off their own ears.

Han-su unconsciously raised his hands toward his face several times before lowering them again, and Hwi-yeon spoke to him.

“Want to switch?”

Hwi-yeon gestured toward the earplugs as she spoke.

Han-su wanted to decline and say he was fine, but he had already learned to some extent that stubbornness could be harmful inside a ghost story.

If he lost his mind for no reason and became a burden on Hwi-yeon, that would only cause trouble.

If anything, if the situation were reversed, at least he could look after her.

“Yes. Then.”

After nodding to confirm their intentions, Han-su took out his own earplugs and blocked his ears.

Seeing Han-su cover his ears, Hwi-yeon removed the earplugs that had been blocking hers.

She immediately frowned at the nerve-grating sound of the flute, but she did not stop for long.

As they continued deeper into the amusement park, the two reminded themselves of their objectives.

Acquire items useful inside ghost stories and revise the rules for this ghost story.

The moment Han-su put in the earplugs, he felt the recurring urge to mutilate his own body disappear, and he glanced down at the wolf beside his feet.

Mu-yeon was not wearing earplugs, but he looked to be in excellent condition.

“...I’m glad it doesn’t seem to affect you, Mr. Mu-yeon.”

Mu-yeon gave a quiet bark in agreement.

Once inside, they first headed toward the Ferris wheel, the most conspicuous landmark.

[Eye of the White Night]

The same name and the same rules as during the previous exploration were written there.

Since the Ferris wheel would likely be visible from anywhere inside the amusement park, using this place as their reference point while moving around was the most reasonable choice.

By the time they reached it, there were other guests around them besides the employees.

Things that looked like wax figures or mannequins....

Ju-hee’s sibling had once wandered around this place looking like one of those.

“For now, it seems at least some of the rules are still being maintained.”

Han-su examined the guests that had begun appearing around them.

Before, they too had at least tried to imitate natural behavior, but now they looked completely like wax itself.

Most of them even had parts of their bodies melted away.

They resembled humans enough to trigger the uncanny valley, yet their forms made it obvious they were not human.

The wax figures stood motionless where they were, giving off an unpleasant feeling, but they could not exactly give up just because the sight made them uncomfortable.

<Rules for Using the Giant Ferris Wheel ‘Eye of the White Night’>

For your safety, please board in an even-numbered group.

If you board in an odd-numbered group.......

For now, the rule itself had not changed.

Looking at the same letters obscured by bloodstains as before, Han-su paradoxically felt relieved.

They had found evidence supporting the assumption that the major framework remained consistent.

Next, it seemed they only needed to check which items they could obtain.

“You said there was candy at a place called Dream Arcade, right? Then we should look for that....”

However, because the internal layout had completely changed, the old map was now useless.

Even so, most of the wax figures remained motionless where they stood, and the employees were friendly.

Hwi-yeon still occasionally felt the urge to tear off her ears and dig out her eardrums, but whenever that happened, blocking her ears with the earplugs quickly made the impulse fade.

It did not seem like a bad idea to add this to the rules while they had the chance.

They had brought the earplugs as a precaution just in case, and the fact that they actually worked was fortunate enough on its own.

It almost made them think prolonged exploration might be safe, as long as they never let their guard down.

“.......”

After wandering around the amusement park for quite some time, the three of them.

No.

The two people and one wolf came to a stop.

Something felt strange.

“......Are there more of them the farther in we go?”

Before they knew it, half-melted wax figures were everywhere around them.

At Hwi-yeon’s words, Mu-yeon and Han-su also looked around at the wax figures surrounding them.

One wax figure, its brightly smiling face melting downward, stood close enough to touch if Han-su reached out, making him instinctively take half a step back.

They had assumed there were simply more because they had come deeper inside, but something about it felt wrong.

And if all three of them felt the same thing, they could no longer dismiss it as imagination.

Something was definitely unnatural about the situation.

“.......”

As they carefully scanned their surroundings, all of them suddenly froze and fell silent at the same time.

They had moved.

Definitely.

Every one of the wax figures had crept slightly closer.

Brightly smiling faces. Melted faces.

Dozens of them, every single one, were staring in their direction.

“Wait.”

What would Su-myeon have done in a situation like this?

They did not have much time to think, so Han-su spoke briefly.

“Let’s figure out what’s happening first before we move.”

Hwi-yeon seemed to understand what he meant and nodded.

Among the existing rules, there had been one related to something approaching.

[4. If you cannot hear the sound of the flute, never close your eyes. Each time you close your eyes, He will take one step closer to you.]

Back then, the thing approaching had referred to the Pied Piper.

And right now, they could clearly still hear the flute....

“No way.”

Hwi-yeon pointed at the earplugs in Han-su’s ears.

Could simply having one person block out the sound like this also cause “something” to approach?

Han-su seemed to have reached the same conclusion as Hwi-yeon and spoke with a grave expression.

“I’ll count to three, then slowly close and open my eyes.”

There was only one way to know for certain.

They had to test it.

Han-su, wearing the earplugs, kept his eyes wide open and slowly began counting.

One.

Two.

Three.

Blink.

“......!”

Hwi-yeon urgently grabbed Han-su’s arm and yanked him away.

Pulled backward before he could even understand what was happening, Han-su only then saw that a wax figure had appeared directly in front of his face.

An eyeball exposed by its melted eyelid rolled loose and dropped out.

Now they knew.

The moment the visual information of someone who could not hear the flute was interrupted, the wax figures began to approach.

But knowing that did not mean removing all the earplugs and continuing onward was a particularly good solution either.

“Let’s give up on collecting the items and head back for now.”

Han-su regretted that they might already have gone too deep, but at least they had realized it before it was too late.

He hurriedly changed the plan and tried to turn back the way they had come.

One person would block their ears and avoid the flute.

And if they moved while protecting one another as much as possible....

Bang-! Bang-!

At that moment, sharp gunshots rang out, loud enough to punch straight through the earplugs.

A sound somewhat familiar to both Han-su and Hwi-yeon.

A sound that made someone they had almost missed come immediately to mind....

“Why are you still wandering around in here?!”

Su-myeon came running toward them amid the familiar gunfire, smashing the wax figures apart as he advanced.